Dithyramb Tragedy and Comedy

One of the major scholars of the 1920s and 30s concerned with the origins of Greek drama, Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge focused in particular on the evidence derived from archaeological finds and papyri. He describes this history of the earliest stages of Greek drama as "a dispassionate attempt to ascertain historical truth or probability by methods as logical as the subject permits. "The study begins by bringing together what was known of the dithyramb, and argues against Aristotle's statement that tragedy originated from the leaders of the dithyramb, and against the theory put forward by Sir William Ridgeway that it originated in performances at the tombs of dead heroes.

2nd Edition (x2) and 1997 Special Edition available.